Boys Of Summer
by CSI1983
Summary: An unexpected arrival throws Sara's world off entirely.  How will she handle returning to a place she never wanted to go back to?  GSR Potential
1. Chapter 1

_A/N - I have no idea where this story came from but I also have no idea where it is headed. Regardless, read, reveiw and tell me what you think!_

Boys Of Summer

Chapter One - Altered

Sara sighed happily as she finished writing the report for a case she had been working on for a month with Warrick.

"Done! Man, finishing these kinds of cases are a lot more fun then starting them that's for sure."

She smiled broadly at Warrick, who sat across the table from her, his arms crossed across his chest, also a grin on his good-looking face.

"Tell me about it. It is so good to finally be able to put that sick husband of hers behind bars for good."

Sara nodded, looking at the picture that hung on the whiteboard across the room. A young woman's smiling face made Sara feel good for all of Warrick's and her own hard work. The women Kate Marcus was killed by her husband and her body dumped in the desert to be found by some tourists. Sara let a comfortable silence fall between herself and Warrick, letting herself ponder and think about the young woman that they just gathered justice for. Warrick ran his hands through his black hair, resting his hands at the back of his skull.

"So what now? Should we go and tell Grissom we are finished or should we sneak in a quick lunch?"

It still made Sara laugh when she thought how their idea of lunch occurred at 2am, and not at the regular lunchtime that most people took. It totally screwed over your body clock when you worked night shift. Sara paused for a moment before answering Warrick, cracking another grin when her stomach started to rumble loudly.

"Lunch it is!"

Warrick and Sara gathered all of the paperwork that they had just been finishing off, and putting it into a file, headed for the break room. Sara sunk slowly into one of the couches as Warrick started making coffee, kicking off her boots, and moaning happily.

"This is good. While you're up, you wanna pass me my lunch from the fridge? It's got my name on it."

Sara had started labeling her lunch almost as soon as she started to work here when she realized that Grissom left some very unusual and nasty experiments in the fridge, which made opening the fridge a new experience each time.

"Yup. Can I steal one of those cookies?"

Sara nodded and took her lunch and coffee from Warrick, got up and got a plate. She sat back down and split her sandwich and put a couple of cookies onto the plate, handing them to Warrick.

"Where is your lunch?"

Warrick took a large mouthful of the cheese sandwich and then a sip of coffee.

"I was late when I came in, and I didn't want to get anything from the vending machine, too much sugar. Though, I will go and get us a soda, Coke ok?"

Sara nodded.

"Diet."

Warrick left nodding, and smiled at Grissom as he entered the break room. Head CSI for the night shift, Gil Grissom was a serious, intelligent and formidable worker, basically living in the lab. He had boyishly handsome looks which were now broken up thanks to some newly added facial hair that made a semi beard, with some distinguished gray coming through in his dark hair.

"Did you finish the paper work on the Marcus case?"

Sara nodded and handed the heavy file too Grissom, who leafed through it quickly and apparently satisfied with what he saw, he sunk slowly into Warrick's vacated seat.

"So how have you been?"

Sara chewed slowly, surprised by the concern in Grissom's voice. She swallowed heavily, sipped her coffee trying to push the lump of food down her throat and then nodded.

"Fine. Why?"

Grissom shrugged, stretching his legs, and avoiding eye contact with Sara.

"Just wanting to make sure your ok."

Sara was about to answer when Warrick walked back in, three sweating cans of coke in his hand.

"Here we go Sara, one Diet Coke, and Grissom regular."

Grissom caught the can in one hand, nodded his thanks and left the room quietly, taking the file with him.

"And why are you looking so surprised?"

Sara cracked open her can of coke, taking a deep swallow of the cold dark liquid before she answered Warrick.

"He asked me how I was. And not in that I'm-just-asking-to-be-polite way either. He was genuinely concerned. Is something going on that I don't know about?"

She fixed her gaze on Warrick who shrugged, casually munching on the chocolate chip cookies that Sara had given him.

"He has a right to be. You used to drink, remember? He's paying closer attention to all of us since that escaped his radar. Why? Does it creep you out?"

Sara squirmed a little.

"It makes me a little uncomfortable. I'm just not used to it is all."

"Yeah, well you get used to it. I had to with the gambling thing and the way he is now has to be better then the shell of a boss we used to have."

Before Sara could jump to Grissom's defense, her pager went.

"Weird. They want me at the front desk."

"Want company?"

Sara nodded, putting her boots back on and grabbing their cokes, they left the room quickly. The corridors were empty which was normal for the night shift; they had few people on with them. Most of the CSI's were day shift, few brave enough to work with Grissom. Sara was thinking, so it wasn't until she had physically gotten to the front desk that she got a shock.

"Aunt Sara!"

Her niece came running, her dark hair a long banner behind her before throwing her arms around Sara, almost knocking her to the ground. When she pulled back, Sara shot questions at her in quick succession.

"What are you doing here? Has something happened? How did you get here?"

Her niece flashed her wide grin, and ignoring her question's turned to shake hands with Warwick.

"Hi, I'm Samantha. You must be Warrick. Nice to meet you."

Sara stood in shock for a few more seconds before she grabbed Samantha by the shoulders, physically turning her attention back to her.

"Answer my questions."

Samantha rolled her dark brown eyes at Warrick.

"Is she always like this?"

Warrick nodded mumbled an excuse about cleaning up the break room and then shuffled off, allowing the women to have some time alone. Sara fixed Samantha with her toughest gaze, leading her to some seats away from the earshot of the receptionist and raised her eyebrow.

"Well?"

Samantha sat down heavily, her slim shoulders slumped forward.

"I thought you would be glad to see me."

Sara felt instantly guilty for not being more welcoming to her only niece.

"I am glad to see you. You just gave me a huge fright. Do your Mom and Dad know you're here?"

A big fat tear slid down Samantha's cheek at the mention of her parent's, landing with a loud plop on her blue mini skirt.

"No. They are too busy trying to kill each other. It's horrible living there, Aunt Sara. They fight all the time and then they drag me into it. I hate them. They don't care about me."

Sara sighed, putting her arm around the young girl's shoulders.

"Their at it again huh? So how did you get here?"

Samantha flashed Sara a watery smile as she put her hand in her handbag withdrawing a credit card.

"I stole Dad's credit card, then booked a flight."

Sara shook her head at the girl, secretly admiring her bravery. Her niece had always been headstrong and independent, forever getting herself into trouble with people who thought that she would be better being more quite and reserved, which just wasn't Samantha. What she was wearing today was typical of Samantha, her artistic spirit reflected in her outer appearance. She wore a blue mini skirt, a white pheasant blouse that had a low dipping front, a large, chunky necklace of beads, and knee high boots. Her hair had changed since the last time Sara had seen her at Christmas, gone was the pink, now replaced with her natural color dark brown, except now she had streaks of every color through it. It was all pulled back loosely with a pretty blue butterfly clip.

"I left last night, told them I was going to a friend's place. I don't know if they even heard me, they certainly didn't notice the huge bags. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before I came, I just had had enough and I had nowhere else to go."

Sara nodded her head at the girl, pulling her close, feeling the familiar wave of protection she always felt when it came to her niece, the anger that bubbled in her chest at her brother for making Samantha feel like this.

"It's ok. You just gave me a fright. So where is your stuff?"

"I dropped it at you house. I know where the spare key was. Your neighbors were nice to me once I showed them my driver's license and proved that I was your niece. So are you going to send me home?"

Sara shook her head, and then pulled out her cell-phone.

"But I want you to call your Dad. He needs to know where you are or else we will both get into trouble. Ok?"

Samantha nodded, taking the phone from Sara and dialing it quickly.

"Dad? It's Samantha…. I know…. I'm with Aunt Sara…. No, I'm not coming home…. Yes, I stole your credit card…. Nothing except the flight, I used my own money for the cabs…. Whatever."

Samantha handed the phone back to Sara silently, tears streaming down her face.

"Hi Brian…. No she's safe…. It's fine…. I don't mind she just gave me a bit of a fright is all…. Yeah she told me…. I asked her so it's really my fault…. I am not going to get into that with you, Brian…. Ok…. Yup that's fine…. We'll figure out something…. Ok bye."

Sara hung up her phone, stood and started walking back towards the break room.

"What did he say? Is he pissed?"

Samantha walked quickly next to Sara, matching her long stride with her shorter one, handbag bumping at her hip.

"Yeah he is. But I told him it was ok if you stayed her a while. You have no school for eight weeks, and that will give you all a break. And me a chance to spend time with you."

Sara smiled back at Samantha as a broad grin set in, and so side by side they entered the break room, where four pair's of eyes fell upon them.

"Everyone this is my niece, Samantha. She's here for a holiday. Samantha, this is Catherine, Warrick who you've already met, Grissom and Nick."

Sara stood back as Samantha shook everyone's hands, flashing a grin at Warrick, Samantha sat next too Nick, talking animatedly.

"So what's it like catching the bad guy's? Aunt Sara said that it's like doing a puzzle, only a little more fun. I personally hate puzzles, I am too impatient, which confuses everyone considering I can spend months on one painting. So Catherine I hear you have a daughter, that's cool. We are so much better then boys."

Catherine smiled at Samantha as she continued to chatter, raising her eyebrows at Sara. Grissom soon hovered at Sara's side, nodding towards the door. Sara followed him out into the corridor, away from the earshot of the other's.

"You're not meant to bring family into the office Sara."

Sara glanced quickly into the room, where Samantha continued to hold a captive audience.

"What was I meant to do Grissom? She shows up out of thin air, her parent's are having problems and I am her only close relative. I'm her Aunt, Grissom. What else could I do? And anyway, I have finished that case I was working on with Warrick, which means that I have time to spare."

Grissom looked at Samantha over Sara's shoulder.

"She looks a lot like you, she even has the dimple. She's an artist?"

Sara nodded, smiling proudly.

"Yeah she is. An incredible one at that. She makes her own Christmas cards, birthday presents, decorated her own room, makes her own clothes and jewelry.

"So if you don't mind me asking, what got her to come here?"

Sara sighed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Her parent's, my brother Brian and his wife Vanessa, have been fighting a lot lately. She called me last week, really upset, but she never said that she was going to run away. She feels invisible to them. She told me that when they fight, they drag her into it, which is not good for her. At least if she's here, it gives my brother a chance to clean up his mess, and it gives Samantha and I a chance to hang out."

A burst of laughter interrupted Sara's train of thought. As was typical of Samantha, she had Catherine, Nick and Warrick in stitches, charming them with her friendly personality.

"Who's the hottie?"

Greg, lab tech and wanna be CSI, had come up beside Sara staring at Samantha.

"My niece. She's sixteen Greg. You keep looking at her like that and I'll remove your reason for a jock strap. Ok?"

Sara smiled sweetly at a frightened looking Greg, who left as quickly as he had come. She heard Grissom snort behind her.

"What was I meant to do? He's sex drive on legs."

Sara exchanged a look with Grissom, his eyes flashed and Sara held his gaze. Just as quickly, he dropped his eyes back to Samantha.

"Well, since your done why don't you take her home? It is going to be a quite night, hopefully. If it gets bad enough I'll page you."

And with that he was gone. Sara returned to the break room, and waited for the laughter to die down before speaking.

"Grissom gave me the rest of the night off, so let's get you home."

She waved goodbye to the rest of the team and led Samantha down the corridor to the locker room, bumping into Doctor Robbins, who was maneuvering gracefully with his crutch down the hallway.

"Hi Doc. This is my niece Samantha, Samantha this is Doc Robbins, our coroner."

Samantha smiled broadly at Doc, and shaking his hand she glanced at his crutch.

"I broke my leg once, I had to have crutches and let me tell you, you make it look easy."

Sara nudged Samantha lightly with her elbow.

"What? I was paying him a compliment! He's not insulted, are you Mr. Robbins?"

Doc shook his head smiling back at Samantha.

"Not at all young lady. And I in turn will pay you one back. You look a lot like your Aunty here. Now if you will excuse me ladies, I have to get these to Grissom. You ladies enjoy the rest of your morning."

They moved aside to allow him to pass, and then continued on their way towards the locker room.

"So Aunty Sara, do you have a boyfriend yet?"

Sara avoided eye contact as she ducked into her locker.

"Not that it's any of your business, but no."

Ignoring her aunts obvious remark to keep her nose out, Samantha played with her beads around her neck as she kept prying.

"You work with three really good looking guys and you don't have a boyfriend? Wow, you are stronger then I would be. What ever happened to Hank?"

Sara bristled at the mention of Hank, and sighing she turned to Samantha, slinging a knapsack on her back.

"Honestly? I had a case quite a while back where this women drove into a restaurant. One of the people in the restaurant was Hank, and he was with another women. He had been going out with her for months."

Samantha was shocked into silence and then nodded confidently.

"You can do better with him. I never liked him really, and he's the one who's losing out not you. Now I like Nick and Warwick. They were cool. I didn't really get to talk to Grissom though. He's kind of serious."

Sara shook her head hard, stopping mid stride.

"Don't you dare get any ideas in that head of yours. No setting up or anything. We are just friends"

Samantha shrugged and continued walking throwing over her shoulder.

"I don't need to; one of them already likes you. A blind man could see it."

Sara shook her head dismissing the young girl's comment, and then followed her out of the building.

* * *

"So what do you wanna do now?" 

They had arrived home a short time later, and despite Samantha being full of energy, Sara felt exhausted, the case her and Warrick had been working on had completely worn her out.

"I need to sleep. I have the whole day to do what we want, so if I sleep now I won't be such a drag later on. We could go shopping? I have not enough food for me let alone another person."

Samantha shrugged.

"Yeah ok. I feel kind of tired as well. Can I have a shower?"

"Yeah, of course. You don't need to ask me that. I think I'll just get ready for bed."

Sara watched as Samantha headed for the spare room, coming back seconds later with pajamas and other odds and ends, and headed into the bathroom. Sara sat at her dining room table, head in her hands. In a matter of hours she had gone from living alone to being responsible for her 16-year-old niece. All thanks to her brother. Brian had been the fun one in the family. Sara was always in the books while Brian breezed through all of his classes then took off overseas where he had met Vanessa, and then at twenty-one, he had gotten married. Samantha's birth was both unexpected and unplanned, and since she had been born there had been a strain on their marriage, one that Sara saw herself with Christmas and general family gatherings.

"Thank you for taking me in. I don't think I said that. Thank you."

Samantha stood there looking like a small child, in pink silk boxers and a blue tank top, all the make up washed off and hair down, a comb clutched in her hand and the smell of vanilla wafting off of her skin.

"No problem. Want me to comb your hair?"

Samantha nodded and took a chair, handing Sara the comb as she came up behind her. Sara carefully combed the ends first, and then moved her way up, gently untangling the colored silken strands, going back to a time when Samantha would sit still for hour's when she was younger, loving it when her Aunty brushed out her hair.

"Hey Aunt Sara?"

"Mm?"

"Do you have a tattoo?"

Sara paused for a second, unsure whether to tell her the truth or not.

"Yes I do. Why?"

Samantha shrugged.

"I was thinking of getting one, and I made the mistake of telling Dad. He completely blew up at me and told me how you had gotten one and it was one of the biggest mistakes you had ever made. His word's not mine."

Sara sat down in the seat next to Samantha.

"It was a personal choice and yes it was one I regretted but not my biggest mistake, not by a long shot."

Samantha nodded and took the comb from Sara's hand.

"Right time for bed. Night Aunt Sara. Have a good sleep. I love you."

Samantha laid a soft kiss on Sara's cheek, her hair falling in front of her face, making Sara's skin a little damp.

"Night, Mans. Sweet dreams, I love you too."

Sara sat and watched the young girl go into the spare room and close the door after her. Then feeling incredibly old and responsible, Sara moved into her own room, where she sunk into the sheets gratefully.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two – Flying On Broken Wings

Sara awoke with a jolt, unfamiliar sounds and smells assaulting her senses. Before she started to panic she remembered about Samantha and how she was staying for a while. A quick look at the clock confirmed eight hours sleep, and feeling very refreshed, Sara headed for the shower. A good twenty minutes later she finally made her way into the kitchen. Samantha had taken what little food Sara had and made some scrambled eggs and there were also some sweet smelling muffins on the center of the table. Today Samantha wore a pair of tattered jeans with patches all over them and a tank top with faces all over it.

"Hey! Your neighbor dropped off the muffins earlier, said that she knew what you were like with the shopping, that you worked too hard. She said they were you favorite."

Sara nodded and gratefully sipped the fresh brew that Samantha placed in front of her. Then she started digging into her eggs, surprised at how hungry she was, and how fantastic the eggs and the peach passion muffins were.

"So how did you sleep?"

Samantha cut open a muffin and put a blob of jam in the center, sipping her coffee as she waited for Sara to answer.

"Great. And you?"

"Not to well. I'm not used to the bed. But that's ok. Do you think I could come with you to work tonight? I have school work to finish and I could do an awesome project for my science class if I was with you."

Sara sighed, wrapping her hands around her coffee mug.

"I don't know. I will have to call Grissom, but don't hold your breath. Right, I'm going to get changed then we can get going if you want. Your Dad said it was ok if you need anything to put it on his credit card. No clothes though. No shopping sprees."

Sara grabbed another muffin as she headed back to her room to brush her hair and change into her somewhat tidier jeans. She was just about to put on her make-up when she was interrupted by a soft knock on her bedroom door.

"I have a present for you. I made it myself."

Samantha handed Sara a box that was about the same size as a large box of chocolates, covered in a pretty black wrap covered in stars. Sara took the lid off the box and removed a black shirt from the box. The shirt had had the sleeves jaggedly cut off and the lower part of the shirt had been raised so it would sit just at the beginning of her jeans, and the neckline was cut just slightly from the original neckline, reveling enough to make a man look twice but not enough to get her fired. And across the chest of the top in white jagged writing was 'Go Ahead Make My Day'.

"Oh I love it! Thanks Mans! I have something for you too. I was saving it for Christmas but since we're exchanging gifts…."

Sara reached into her drawer and pulled out a little pale blue box and handed it too Samantha. Inside there nestled two pale blue's' shaped earrings.

"Oh these are great. Put on your top and I'll wear the earrings."

Sara quickly changed her top and then watched happily as Samantha put on her earrings.

"I wonder if I could get away with wearing this shirt to work. I'll give it a go but I had better take a spare just in case."

In a few minutes they were both heading out the door, locking the apartment behind them. They walked in silence to Sara's truck parked around the back of the building.

"So Mans, you got to ask me about my love life, so what about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"

Samantha looked away and then became far too fascinated with Sara's CD collection in the glove compartment of the truck.

"Hey you have Fat Boy Slim! Who would have thought? Oh and you have The Who! You have better taste then I thought you did."

Sara looked suspiciously at Samantha and then shrugged her shoulders. Maybe they broke up before she came here or something. Or maybe she was one of those people who have no problem asking others about their lives and yet hated talking about her own. Sara let Samantha talk about nothing as they drove to the market, hoping that Samantha would calm down by the time they got there.

"I'll push the trolley! We'll use Dad's credit card for this shopping, it's for food and he should have to help out."

Samantha smiled brightly at Sara and then pulled out a shopping list that she had made before Sara had gotten up out of bed that morning. Within an hour they had filled the trolley to the brim with vegetables, bread, milk, soda, meat, eggs, potato chips and some cookies.

"Ok that's $210. Will that be cash or credit?"

Samantha handed over her father's credit, a smile on her face.

"Credit thanks."

They loaded the back of the truck with their hoard, and then Sara took Samantha to the local Starbucks to have coffee. When they were seated with their drinks, Sara tried to ask her about the boyfriend situation again.

"So do you have a boyfriend?"

Samantha's usually bright face became dark, her eyes filling with quick tears.

"Not anymore. He thinks I cheated on him. We broke-up just before I got here."

Sara put her hand on the young girl's slim one, squeezing it reassuringly.

"Sorry to hear that. How long were you together?"

Samantha idly stirred her coffee in slow circles, her eyes locked on the table in front of her.

"Six months. He was in my art class."

"So did you cheat on him?"

Samantha pulled her hand out from under Sara's, her eyes flashing angrily.

"No! He was the first guy and the only guy I have ever slept with and he knew that. And now this…."

Samantha shrugged and let her unfinished sentence hang in the air, her coffee forgotten.

"What? What has happened?"

Samantha took a deep breath and spoke quietly, her eyes lowered avoiding Sara's gaze.

"Part of the reason I left home was the fighting. The other part of it was something that Mom and Dad don't know about. I can't tell them what I need too."

Sara raised her eyebrows, saying nothing.

"I'm pregnant."

It felt like time had stopped for Sara, as she silently Samantha until her niece's form blurred from tears that Sara didn't realize had come to her eyes. Emotions whirled through her, disappointment, anger and sadness left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"I had better get home. I need to rest up for work."

Sara gathered up her keys, and coat and left the Starbucks, Samantha trailing sobbing quietly behind her. The drive home was silent, and when they finally arrived home they unpacked the shopping in deafening silence and when it was done, Samantha slipped into her room. Sara sat in a trance like state till ten that night when she left the apartment and arrived at work, still feeling shaky and sick to her stomach. Grissom was handing out the assignments in the break room when she walked in, and when he had finished he had lead her into his office by her elbow and sat her down in the chair across from his desk.

"What happened?"

Grissom looked at Sara intently and waited. All color had fallen from her face, and her eyes looked glazed. Hands were clasped tightly on her lap and Grissom could see the steady clenching and unclenching of her jaw from where he was sitting.

"I just found out that Samantha is pregnant."

Grissom watched as silent tears made there way down Sara's pale cheeks, landing on her hands that were still clasped tightly in front of her. He handed her a box of tissues and came to sit next to her, putting an awkward arm around her. Sara leant her head on his shoulder heavily, needing to lean on something solid for a little while. After a few minutes she got herself together and sat up straight. Grissom moved around to sit in front of her.

"Sorry Grissom. I guess the shock got to me. Oh and look what I did to your shirt."

Grissom looked down and smiled a little when he saw his new blue shirt covered in Sara's tears and mascara.

"It's ok. Are you alright?"

Sara nodded and blew her nose on one of the tissues out of the box Grissom had handed her, and then she tried to wipe off any excess makeup that had run, only managing to smudge it more.

"And just to make matters a little worse, I didn't talk to her about it. She told me and then that was it. I haven't spoken to her, I was in shock and I needed to talk to someone. Thank you for letting me ruin your shirt by the way. I'll pay for the dry cleaning."

Sara wrapped her arms around herself; feeling colder then she had ever felt before. Grissom took his jacket off of the back of his chair, putting it around Sara's shoulders and then busied himself with making some Chamomile tea.

"You have had a huge shock. Just sit for a little while, get yourself together and then you can go home and sort things out with Samantha. Or you could get her to come here. Either way you really need to straighten all this out before she does something stupid."

Sara nodded and wrapped her hands around the mug that Grissom had just given her, enjoying the warmth and the sweet smell coming from his coat, something Sara couldn't quite put her finger on, even though it was very Grissom that was being emitted from his coat. They sat in silence for a few minutes, which gave Sara time to calm down and gather her thoughts, letting her mind establish what she was going to do.

"Thanks Grissom. Thank you for being here when I needed you most."

Sara put her now empty tea mug on his desk and then moved around him to hang his coat on the back of his chair.

"I'm here if you need to talk again. Anytime, my door is always open."

Sara paused for a few seconds at the doorway before turning back to him.

"Grissom, why the sudden change in attitude?"

Grissom shrugged before pulling a few tissues out of the box.

"When you got pulled over for drunk driving I realized that I had not been the kind of boss or friend that any of you needed. And so I am trying to improve. It's a lot harder then it looks."

He smiled slightly and then reached over and softly wiped off some mascara that Sara had missed in her cleaning, the black streak marring her creamy skin. Sara stared at him steadily, and continued to look at him after he had pulled the tissue away. Before she could react, Grissom had leant forward and placed a soft kiss on her upturned mouth. Grissom was surprised by how salty her lips were, like sweet and sour almost, a nice combination. Sara pulled away quickly, and fresh tears began to fall as she fled the room, leaving Grissom standing alone.

* * *

Sara tried to forget the kiss as she drove home, she really did. She kept reminding herself that Samantha was pregnant, and that she had enough on her plate without the kiss taking up what little room there was. But no matter how she tried, her lips burnt where Grissom had kissed her, her lips wanting more of the soft contact that made electricity zap through her all the way down to her toes. She finally reached her apartment and she sat in the car for a few extra minutes gathering what she wanted to say to Samantha into a nice sensible pile at the front of her brain. She let herself into the apartment and was stunned by the silence. She quietly made her way down the hall to Samantha's room, and knocking lightly she let herself in. Samantha was sleeping on the bed, her hair tumbling across the pillow, her face looking like a child's, sweet and innocent, her eyelashes throwing dark shadow's across her cheeks, her legs tucked neatly under her.

"Samantha. Wake up"

Sara gave her a light shake and then waited while the teenager woke with a slight moan. When she saw Sara's face she began to cry and threw herself into her aunt's arms.

"I'm so sorry Aunt Sara."

Sara stroked the girl's hair and waited till the girl had calmed before speaking.

"I'm sorry I left you like that. I should have stayed and talked but I was in shock and I needed to talk to someone."

Just the thought of Grissom made Sara's lips burn again, and a blush begin to move up her cheeks.

"I figured that much. So where to from here?"

Samantha sat back in the bed, and Sara made herself comfortable beside her.

"Well I suppose the first question is have you told you parent's?"

Samantha gave a short bitter laugh.

"Yeah right. I am not that suicidal."

Sara handed Samantha the phone and smiled at her sadly.

"Yeah well they need to know. Do you know what you are going to do?"

Samantha shook her head as she played with the aerial of the phone.

"I am too far gone to get an abortion. So that leaves adoption or keeping it. Can I do this alone?"

She held up the phone a little and Sara nodded.

"I'll go start dinner. Fancy anything in particular?"

Samantha shook her head and started dialing and Sara closed the door quietly behind her, and moved into the small kitchen where she started to fix up a small Lasagna and salad. Unfortunately Sara found that with Samantha out of the way for a little while Grissom's kiss played on her thoughts, and more then once the knife narrowly missed her fingers. After a good twenty minutes Samantha came out of the room, face tear streaked and her normally full lips pulled into a tight line.

"They said what I knew they would. I am officially homeless."

Samantha sat heavily in the chair at the dinning room table and watched as Sara put food on the table.

"They said that I was responsible for the pregnancy and that I can now be responsible for myself, and that if I kept the baby I would not be welcome in the house again."

Sara sat across from the young girl, watching as Samantha turned into a lost little girl before her.

"So what are you going to do?"

Samantha shrugged and started eating the salad, jamming whole lettuce leafs in her mouth. After a moment or two of chewing, Samantha pointed her fork at Sara.

"What about if I lived here? I could get a job, pay rent and food. I have quite a lot of money in a secret account. I could give you some of that."

Sara frowned at Samantha, confused.

"Why do you have a secret account?"

Samantha put down her fork and started tearing up the paper napkin onto the table beside her plate.

"Because ever since I sold my first piece of art work and started making money, Mom and Dad, mostly Mom, have been borrowing the money. And so when I realized that hiding it in my piggy bank wouldn't work, I opened an account that they never knew about. I have about $17,000 in there. And I have some paintings at home that I could sell and then I have T-shirts that I can make and sell on the Net. So what do you think?"

Samantha's rushed explanation and idea's washed over Sara in a wave but she the idea of saying no never occurred to her. Samantha was her niece and she was family, and if she could pay rent and offer help towards the bills then there was no real reason to say no.

"There will be rules. No going clubbing, no boy's, no drugs, and no alcohol."

Samantha nodded slowly, and continued to tear up the napkin, which had almost disappeared.

"I really don't know what I am going to do. If I keep the baby Mom and Dad do not want anything to do with me, but if I give it up then I will regret it. I am in a lose-lose situation."

Sara reached over the table and took Samantha's hand in hers, stilling the girls successful attempt at making confetti.

"We will think about it later. Now you need to eat, and then get some sleep. We have both had a hell of a day"

Samantha looked at Sara through suspicious eyes, eyebrow raised.

"Why? What happened to you?"

Sara shook her head and focused on her food.

"Nothing that concern's you. Eat."

Sara watched as Samantha ate her food happily, Sara's appetite having left her, being replaced by a heavy hollow feeling in her stomach.

So a little while later, when Samantha had finally gone to bed, and knowing that Brian kept late hours, Sara dialed his number with a sigh. After three rings, her brother's incredibly deep voice filled the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Hi Brian, its Sara."

Silence sat heavily on the other end of the phone, the only noise that Sara could hear aside from her heartbeat, was her brother's low breath.

"I suppose Samantha put you up to this? To try and convince us to let her come home I presume? It's not going to work Sara. She stepped over a line."

Sara started massaging her temples, trying to resist the urge to yell at her older brother.

"No this was my idea. Samantha is asleep. What's with you anyway? Your only daughter makes a mistake and she needs you. Throwing her out is going to not make this go away."

"Yeah well it makes me feel better. How do you think I feel, Sara? My only daughter, my baby is pregnant. Vanessa is in shock as am I. We appreciate what you are doing for Samantha but it really not your problem."

Sara took a deep breath, struggling to keep her temper under wraps.

"Yeah well if it wasn't my problem in the beginning, it is now. Your daughter showed up on my doorstep, and now she's all set to move in. Oh and since we are being nice and blunt, why is it that your daughter has a secret bank account so that you cannot get at her money? I don't know what game you are playing Brian, but the only one getting hurt is Samantha."

Sara hung up before her brother could comment and then sat looking around her living room, trying to gather her thoughts and how she was going to deal with the whack that her life had just taken, and to top if all off, in a matter of hour's she would have to face Grissom, something she didn't want to do. Sara decided to take it one step at a time and Samantha's issue seems more relevant then her own love life. Samantha had to take priority.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three – Of Sand And Fog

Sara slowly pulled on a pair of jeans and a black tank top, wanting to put off going to work for as long as she possible could. She was tired and stressed, and all she wanted to do was slip back into bed and sleep the day away. But it was not meant to be. She put on her smooth suede jacket over her shirt and then her furry thick coat. She drove to work on autopilot, and headed to the locker room, she was early enough to sit and gather her thoughts for a few minutes before starting a new case. She was sitting in front of her locker when Nick walked in and sat next to her.

"Hey. How was your weekend?"

Sara shook her head.

"It left a great deal to be desired. Actually I think it topped the list of one of the worst weekends I have ever had."

Nick paused for a second and watched as Sara removed her coat and then slammed her locker door closed with her booted foot.

"Why? What happened?"

Sara ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it back into a messy ponytail, random strands still falling down the back of her neck.

"My niece, Samantha? Yeah well turns out that she is pregnant, and when she told her parent's, they kicked her out of the house."

Nick raised his eyebrow's, letting out a low whistle.

"Does she know what she's going to do with the baby?"

Sara shrugged.

"It's too late for an abortion, though even if it wasn't I would not be too happy about it. She is having a hard time choosing. But we'll get there, it's just not going to be easy."

Nick nodded, closing his locker with a sharp bang

"I'm here if you need anything."

Sara nodded, giving him a small smile before following him out the door. Everybody was there today and by the looks of the thick handful of papers Grissom had, it was going to be a busy shift. Grissom didn't even look at her when she walked into the room; he continued to talk to Catherine, waving his hand enthusiastically. When they were all seated he stood in the center of the room and started handing out the assignments for the evening.

"Nick, Warrick and Cath, you guy's have a suspicious suicide of a young women. It's in an apartment building in the very center of the gambling district."

He handed some papers to Catherine and with a quick wave the trio left the room, and Grissom turned to Sara.

"We have a murdered house wife. Oh and this is for Samantha."

Grissom handed Sara part of the thick folder he held in his hand. Sara flicked through the stapled pages quickly and was touched to find that it was information on adoption, the different types, talking with parents, dealing with the changes with the body and how to cope when the baby arrived.

"Thank you Grissom. You didn't have to do that."

Grissom sat beside Sara, the couch sinking slightly, which caused Sara to almost fall into Grissom.

"I thought it would help from a practical point, making sure she knows her options. How is she doing?"

Sara shrugged, playing with the papers in her hand.

"She's alright. Um, I have a favor to ask. You know how I have loads of time off?'

Grissom nodded.

"Six weeks if I remember rightly."

Sara took a deep breath.

"I need to take it off. I know that I should be filing all of the paperwork and then wait for it to be cleared, but this cannot wait."

Grissom smiled slightly at her.

"I'll see what I can do. I'm sure Greg would be happy though, this will give him the chance to come onto the field again."

Sara nodded, and then stood.

"I just wish that my time off would not be used on sorting out my brother's mess. In theory he's meant to be cleaning up mine, I am after all the baby of the family."

"How much older is your brother?"

"Eight years. I was very much unplanned."

Grissom smiled at her.

"Could have been worse. So when do you want to leave us?"

Sara mentally flicked through her calendar.

"ASAP. I need to sort this mess before it's too late, for Samantha as well as Brian. I love my niece but she needs her parents for this, not some workaholic Aunt."

Grissom shrugged.

"She could have done worse then you Sara. She loves you, and she trust's you. Not many young people have that."

Grissom stood brushing past Sara as he headed out the door.

"We had better get going."

Sara followed, hands in her jacket pockets, thought's tumbling through her mind in a haphazard pattern.

* * *

Sara had been home a matter of hour's when Grissom called her on her home phone, not her mobile.

"Sara? I cleared that time off for you. Your last shift is tonight. It should be nice and quite though, we just need to finish off the paperwork from that case last night."

"Hey Grissom?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for everything. Can I ask one more favor?"

"Might as well. What is it?"

"Can Samantha come in tonight? She's in the middle of a school project and she wanted a hand doing it and she thought that you and the team could help. Is that ok?"

"As long and she stays out of the way, it should be fine."

"Thank you Grissom."

"No problem. See you tonight."

Sara put the phone quietly back into the cradle and went to see what Samantha was up to. She found the young women listening to her CD player in her room, working on a new art piece, that she was so wrapped up in that she didn't even realize Sara was standing at the door. Sara stood and watched her niece, surrounded by newspaper and magazine cuttings, humming and bopping to the music that was filling only her ears. Just looking at her you would never imagine that this beautiful young woman was pregnant and had been kicked out of her home. Sara moved closer to the bed, waiting and then smiled when the girl gave a little start, and then smiled back at her Aunt.

"Hey. What you up to?"

Samantha took out her headphones, placing the CD player on her lap, shifting over as her Aunt sat down beside her.

"I'm working on a piece for Grissom, Catherine, Nick, Warrick and you. That office is depressing so I thought that I could give them a little inspiration."

Sara picked up a piece of paper that she had her hand on. It was a picture of a young woman and the results of her murder case. And as Sara ran her eyes over the other clippings she saw that they were all basically the same, surrounded by words like 'Justice' and 'Angels'.

"So what's it going to be?"

Samantha shook her head.

"Nope not telling. It's a gift for all of you. You will know when I finish. How was your day? Oh night I mean?"

Sara settled herself more on the bed, leaning back against the pillows.

"It was ok. I have some news for you. First of all, Grissom said that you can come into my office tonight if you want too. You can get some help on that project for school from Grissom and the rest of the team. If you don't get an 'A' with that lot giving you the information then your teacher has it in for you. What's the project about anyway?"

Samantha started cutting the paper's again, her careful hands making neat edges.

"I didn't choose it. We were assigned it, and unfortunately for me I got bugs. I mean what kind of project is that? So I am going to need all of the help I can get."

Sara smiled brightly, feeling a little better.

"Well, you are in the right place. I have connections to the top bug specialist in the country. Actually we are pretty good friends."

Samantha's frown fell from her face.

"For real? Who?"

Sara smiled sweetly.

"Grissom believe it or not."

Samantha sat in thought for a few minutes.

"Actually I do believe it. That is very cool. Very handy."

Sara took a deep breath.

"There's something else, but unfortunately this is not good news for either of us."

Samantha put down what she was doing, her attention now completely on Sara.

"What?"

"I'm going to take you home."

Samantha jumped up from the bed, as if pulled by an invisible string, her eyes flashing, her face screwed up angrily.

"If you didn't want me here why didn't you just say? I don't want to be there with them! And they don't want me there either! I am not going back there!!"

Samantha left the room, and ran to the bathroom slamming the door loudly behind her, making Sara's teeth rattle. Sara went and leant against the door, her heart breaking as Samantha's loud sobbing reached her ears.

"Samantha, listen to me. I do want you here but there is only so much I can do, you need your parents for this, no matter what you decide. Should you keep the baby, it will be their grandchild and they will want a part in the baby's life, and wouldn't that be easier if you were on speaking terms? I don't mind if you live here with me but I want you to at least talk to your parents, let them know your point of view. I am doing this for you not to you. Samantha please understand."

Silence greeted Sara's announcement, and she sat there for a good twenty minutes before she heard movement, and then the door opened. Samantha's hair and makeup was mussed, and her eyes red from crying.

"So I can come back here if it all goes to crap?"

Sara held her hand over her heart.

"I Promise. You alright?"

Samantha sat heavily next to Sara, leaning her head on her shoulder.

"I'm ok. So when do we go home?"

Sara thought for a second, absentmindedly playing with Samantha's long hair, twirling the soft strands around her fingers.

"Well it's Tuesday today so how about we go on Friday? We'll drive it's easier and if we go early enough then we could get there in a good six - eight hours, depending on the traffic of course. That way if you need to you can go and see Grissom again to help finish off your project. It also gives me a chance to figure out what we are going to say to the parent's. Is that ok? Do you think you would have finished your little project by then?"

Samantha nodded.

"Yeah it should be. It's easier because I am working more with materials rather then paints, and then all I need to do is get or build a frame. And even if I'm not done I could just send it to you guys."

Sara gave her niece a tight squeeze, not wanting to be in her shoes for anything.

"We had better have something to eat, I'm starving. You had also better go for a bit of a sleep later if you want to make it the whole shift tonight"

Samantha nodded and stood, then offered a hand to Sara, pulling her up as well. Sara fished around in her pocket and gave Samantha a $20 bill.

"Why don't you go and get us a coffee, a few doughnuts and some fresh bagels? I will stay here and make us some eggs, toast and some fresh O.J. You alright with that?"

Samantha nodded and impulsively gave Sara a hug.

"Thank you. I love you."

Before Sara could say anything, Samantha had grabbed the keys and was out the door. Sara turned her attention to making them some breakfast, popping down some toast and pulling eggs from the fridge, humming to herself. While she waited for the eggs to cook she started to squeeze the oranges they had brought two days before hand, putting the sweet juice into a set of glasses. Her silence was interrupted by voices just outside the apartment door, one of which she recognized as Samantha's. Sara opened the door and was faced with a teary Samantha, her hand clasped by a young man, who was kneeling in front of her.

"Well, what's all this?"

Sara raised her eyebrows at Samantha, waiting for the girl to explain.

"Aunt Sara this is Malcolm. Malcolm this is my aunt Sara."

Malcolm released Samantha's hand and stood before Sara and offered a hand, his hair falling into his eyes. Sara put her hand into his, his grip strong. Sara passed a customary glance over the boy. He was tall and had long lank hair that hung in his face and eyes, which were a smoky gray. He wore torn jeans and a black shirt, his sneakers had been colored in with black permanent marker.

"Can he come in, please?"

Sara glanced at Samantha and nodded. They needed to talk this out and she knew it as well as Samantha.

"Won't you join us for something to eat?"

The boy nodded and followed Samantha into the apartment, sitting quietly at the small dining room table. They ate in silence and then Sara excused herself, taking advantage of the need for privacy, fully intending to get some much needed sleep. She slipped quietly into her room, changed into an oversized nightshirt, and slide under the cool sheets, falling asleep before her head had hit the pillow.

* * *

A low hum of sound was the first thing that a semi-conscious Sara registered. She turned over slightly and looked at her alarm clock and smiled when she saw it had been over eight hours since she had gone to bed. Sara stretched leisurely, arching her back like a cat, and then she rolled out of bed, and into the pair of jeans and shirt that she had worn the night before. She pulled her hair back into the ponytail that it had fallen out of, and set out to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Sara finally made her way into the lounge, where she was greeted with the sight of Samantha and Malcolm curled up on the couch together, sleeping, the T.V playing an old black and white movie. Leaving them, Sara padded quietly into the kitchen and proceeded to start up a fresh batch of coffee, nibbling at a muffin left over from the day before. She poured three large mugs of the strong brew and headed back into the living room, clearing her throat loudly. Samantha stirred first, turning a bright shade of red as she took in what Sara saw.

"Nothing happened. We were talking and then we fell asleep."

Sara handed her a cup of coffee.

"I believe you. Now wake up prince charming here so that we can talk."

Samantha gave the young boy a shake and they moved into the dining room, the setting sun putting a soft haze over everything.

"So what have you two decided?"

Samantha and Malcolm exchanged a quick glance, and Malcolm took Samantha's hand, squeezing it.

"We want to keep the baby. We know it's going to be hard, but we want to make a go of it. We want to get married and give the baby a home to be proud of."

Malcolm's voice was calm and smooth, and despite his age, Sara had to respect the young man for stepping up to the plate.

"Did you ever meet Samantha's parents?"

Samantha shook her head.

"No. Dad wants me to go out with respectable young men that are going to be lawyers, doctors anything except what they want to be. They never got to meet Malcolm."

Sara nodded and ran a hard eye over the young couple, making a quick decision.

"Then he can come back with us. Is that ok, Malcolm?"

The young man nodded.

"Where are you staying?"

Malcolm shrugged in the carefree way those only young people posses.

"Motel up the road."

"Well you can stay here if you want. We will be leaving here in two days time, and then we'll be driving to California. You can sleep on the couch, but you will be out on your ass if you even think about going into Samantha's room. I have a gun and I am not afraid to use it. The rules are simple, no drinking, no smoking, no clubbing and no sex. Obey those and we will get on just fine."

Malcolm smiled a little smile and nodded.

"Now Samantha and I will be away tonight and we will not be back until about seven tomorrow morning. I don't want you going out. You can stay in watch one of my many DVD's, order in a pizza or whatever. Alright?"

Malcolm nodded again, Samantha grinning widely beside him, leant in and in a low whisper which Sara heard said,

"I told you that she was cool. Just don't piss her off."

Samantha got up a few minutes later and disappeared into the bathroom to have a shower, after promising her Aunt that she would not use all of the hot water. This gave Sara a chance to grill Malcolm.

"So what do your parent's do?"

Malcolm sipped his coffee thoughtfully before answering.

"My father died six years ago and my mother is a real estate agent in California."

Sara smiled sadly at the young boy.

"That must be hard on your mother. Do you have any siblings?"

Malcolm nodded.

"Yeah a sister, Margaret, she's 12."

"Do you work, or is it just school?"

"I work part time at an art supply store not far from home. But I give half my paycheck to Mom. Before he died, Dad made me promise to step up and be man of the house, so that Mom and Margaret were never left wanting. So I got the job when I was 12, and I am now a manager there."

Sara raised her eyebrow's, impressed again by the boy's responsibility.

"So your mother doesn't know about the baby?"

Malcolm shook his head, draining the last of his coffee, which Sara topped up again.

"But I know she'll be ok about it. Not like Sam's parent's, who will freak out."

Sara nodded allowing the boy a small smile.

"Yeah, sadly my brother and sister-in law are not the best people for this."

"Well Sam has told me quite a lot about her family and it seems like you and her dog Max are the only ones who sound decent."

Sara cocked her head, shooting Malcolm a puzzled look.

"It must have been pretty bad at home for her to leave him behind. She's not exaggerating is she? Is it really as bad as she paints it?"

Malcolm put his mug on the table, his hands still around it, and his face sad.

"Yeah it is. They fight and every night before she told me about the pregnancy she was either calling me on the phone in tears or she would come over to my house. They seem to be oblivious to her and what is going on. Because if they paid attention then she would not be pregnant, or hurting as bad as she is. I am really worried about her."

Sara watched the bathroom door open, and Samantha walked out of it, and into her room.

"You're not the only one Malcolm."

Samantha came and joined them a few seconds later and Sara excused herself to go and have a shower, to freshen up for work. She put the water on as hot as she dared and stepped under the pelting spray, allowing it to melt her worries away. A little while later she stepped out, feeling refreshed and clean. She put on the robe that was on the back of the door and headed back into her room to find a clean pair of pants and a top. Showered, dressed and ready for work, Sara felt a little more alive; all of her worries for the moment seemed far away. She headed back into the living room, flicking her eyes to the clock above the fridge.

"Hey Man's, you ready to go? I know it's only 8:30, but Grissom never goes home, and so you could do some extra time with him if you like."

Samantha glanced at Malcolm who nodded his approval.

"Yep, I'll just get my boots on and my papers and folder that I need. Are we going to grab dinner before we go?"

Sara shook her head.

"We'll grab something on the way and eat with Grissom, otherwise he forgets to eat."

Samantha was ready in a few minutes, and they were out the door and on the way to the office.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four – Everything Is Relative

"And this is Grissom's office."

Samantha was walking from shelf to shelf, touching and examining jars that contained things from baby pigs, to a two headed scorpion.

"This is gross, but in a very cool way."

"Well I am glad that I am in some way cool."

Grissom had entered his office, drying his hands on a hand towel. He looked tired Sara noted to herself.

"I thought that if you aren't too busy you could spend a little extra time with Sam and her project, its right up your ally. Oh and we brought bribery."

Sara held up the plastic bag full of Chinese and then handed Grissom one of the cokes she had picked up on the way in.

"I guessed that you would not have eaten yet."

Sara watched as his eyes registered the food, looking as if he had never heard of it before.

"Great. You got the usual?"

Sara nodded and set about packing up the papers on his desk, setting them to one side and then started unloading the vast amounts of food, her stomach rumbling as the aroma hit her senses. After a few minutes of eating, Grissom turned his attention to Samantha, who was struggling with the chopsticks.

"Like this Samantha."

Grissom pushed his food aside and reaching over, arranged her fingers into the correct position. Samantha grinned broadly as she clicked them together, and happily dug into her Chinese with great concentration. Sara flashed a small grin at Grissom, and continued to eat her chow mien noodles.

"So Samantha, what's your project about?"

Samantha screwed up her pretty nose.

"Bugs. But Aunt Sara said that you were the best person at those things so she said that if it was ok with you then we could hang out."

Grissom's eyes lit up at the mention of bugs, and nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course. I taught your aunt here a thing of two, so if you're her niece, you should catch on nice and quick."

They were soon finished eating, and after they had finished cleaning up, Samantha turned her attention to Grissom.

"Ok so, where do we start, Mr. Grissom?

A gentle smile made its way to Grissom's mouth.

"You know how to make someone feel old. Just call me Grissom."

Samantha nodded.

"Well in that case call me Sam. Unless you want to call me Mans like Aunt Sara does, that's cool as well."

Grissom started pulling out textbooks and case files and pushed them in front of Samantha.

"Ok Sam, lets get started. What do you need for your project?"

Samantha looked at a sheet of paper that she had fished out of her folder.

"I need a case study, and then I need to focus on the bugs found at that particular scene. My teacher gave me this when I opened my big mouth and told her what Aunt Sara did for work."

Grissom smiled at the girl.

"Well this case might just fit your requirements"

Grissom put a folder on his desk, opening it so that it faced the girl, and with a low confident voice, he started going into great detail about the circumstances surrounding the murder. Sara sat down in a chair that she had dragged against the back wall, picking an old Sherlock Holmes novel out of her bag, blocking out the talk of bugs. She was a good four chapters into the book before Samantha pushed her chair back noisily and stretched, and started to gather the books and folders that Grissom had handed her earlier.

"Do you mind if I set up camp in the break room, Grissom? I promise I will stay out of the way."

Grissom nodded and watched the girl leave, smiling at Sara.

"She is a great girl. Very bright."

Sara stood and stretched, nodding.

"Tell me about it. She likes to surprise me."

Grissom sat back in his chair, interlocking his fingers behind his head.

"Speaking of surprises, how are things with her?"

Sara moved from her seat to the one that was directly across from Grissom, sipping her coke lazily.

"Her ex-boyfriend showed up on my doorstep this morning. He and Samantha have decided to keep the baby and they want to get married, so now he is coming back to California with Samantha and I. I think I have a sign over my door welcoming vagrants. Or those in trouble at least."

Grissom shook his head.

"Just be thankful that she trust's you enough to tell you and not do something stupid. What about you? Are you ok?"

Sara shrugged, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"You mean aside from the obvious? I'm fine. I think I am anyway. You know what scares me the most? What I'm going to say to Brian and Vanessa, but even more then that is how they will react. What if I am just sticking my nose in like Brian said? What if I am just over reacting?"

Sara looked at Grissom for some sign of reassurance, wanting to take comfort in the fact that what she was doing was the right thing. Sara was bitterly disappointed when all he did was shrug his shoulders.

"I personally think that even if I told you what you were doing was wrong, you being you, will do it anyway. But as an outsider to this whole mess, from what I can see, you are not over reacting, and as her Aunt, despite what you brother may say, you are doing what needs to be done. Does that make you feel any better?"

Sara held up her hand, her thumb and forefinger an inch or so apart.

"Just a little. I have no confidence in how I am going to handle this, I really don't. It totally sucks that I am taking my holidays and I am not looking forward to it."

Grissom leant forward, his hands in front of his face in prayer style.

"Well I am just a phone call away if you need me. I am here for anything, ok? Promise that you'll call if it all gets too much, I don't want you to start drinking again. Deal?"

Grissom held his hand across the table, a small smile on his mouth. Sara smiled back and placed her hand in his, his grip surprisingly gentle. Their eyes locked and for a moment and Sara felt transported, all her worries forgotten as she got lost in Grissom's soft gaze. Grissom withdrew his hand first, dropping his gaze to the papers on his desk. A noise behind them made Sara and Grissom both jump slightly, and Samantha moved further into the room, a small smile on her full lips.

"Sorry to disturb you but the others are here and they wanted me to come and get you both."

Sara and Grissom exchanged a questioning glance before they followed Samantha into the break room. Catherine, Warwick, Nick and Greg stood around the small table that sat in the center of the room, where a cake sat. Sara looked from one to the other, her eyebrows raised.

"What is all this? I'm not leaving for good. You know that right?"

Catherine shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, it just gives us an excuse for cake, that's all it is really."

Sara nodded, smiling as she cut the slices of rich, moist dark chocolate cake, handing each person a piece.

"So Grissom, is it going to be a quite night tonight?"

Warrick sidled up to Grissom, surprised by how relaxed the older man seemed.

"Yep, looks that way. Sara and I need to finish the paper work on last night's case, and you need to up date your paper work on the case you three were working on also."

Sara was watching Samantha talk to Greg, her hair swinging down her back, her smile warm and wide.

"It's starting to creep me out how much she looks like you. I mean aside from the streaked hair of course."

Nick was standing beside her, shoveling cake into his mouth.

"Does she really? I always thought she looked like her mother."

Nick swallowed the bite he had just chewed, shaking his head.

"Nope, it's you. So how have things been with her?"

Sara pushed her cake around the plate, her appetite gone.

"It's alright. She decided to keep the baby and get married to the Dad. So now we are going to go to California to tell her parent's."

"So why is it you've taken so much time off? I mean six weeks to sort this out?"

Sara raised an eyebrow.

"Believe me; I'll need every second I can get. And even if I don't end up needing to be there that long, I can enjoy some sun and surf before I have to come back here. I need to ask you a favor."

Nick put his fork down on the plate, giving Sara his full attention.

"Ask away."

"Do you think that you can look after my apartment while I'm gone? It would be even better if you could live there. Its closer to work then your place is, the cupboards are full and I have a really wide range of DVD's. What do you think?"

Nick pretended to ponder on the question for a few minutes that was until a wide smile spread across his handsome face.

"Yeah, of course. When are you leaving?"

"Friday morning. I'll come by here earlier so that I can drop off the keys. Thanks Nick, you're the best."

"Yeah, I know."

Sara gave Nick a tired smile then tried to force down some more cake, not wanting her mood to affect the people around her.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five – Doing The Right Thing

Friday came far too quickly as far as Sara was concerned and it wasn't until she had loaded the back of the truck with her luggage that the panic started to slowly ebb in. It was 5am by the time Sara had started heading to the office to drop off her keys for Nick, and Samantha and Malcolm were sitting in silence in the back seat, the mood somber and serious. Samantha and Malcolm both came into the office with her, Malcolm out of curiosity and Samantha to say goodbye. They found the small team gathered around the table in the break room drinking coffee.

"Hey everyone."

Five heads shot up and said their 'Good Mornings' then offered the small group coffee.

"Nah we have to get going. Oh everyone this is Samantha's fiancé, Malcolm."

Greg's face fell when he took in the size of the youth standing to the left of Samantha, holding her hand. In a few minutes they said their goodbyes and with a small wave and a quick glance at Grissom, Sara headed back to the truck Samantha and Malcolm trailing behind her.

"To Portland, California."

* * *

Eight hours later, Sara pulled up into her brother's driveway. Sara had always been impressed with the size of the house. It was three stories high with a wide sloping verandah and a large sparkling pool that Sara knew stood behind the tall fence that kept intruders out and Max in. Samantha and Malcolm had fallen asleep just outside of Las Vegas, and Sara decided to leave them for a little longer. She slipped out of the car quietly, shutting the door soundlessly behind her; she headed up the stoned path that lead to the large imposing front door, thoughts and arguments running through her head. When she had reached the door she took a moment to take a deep breath, fixed her hair and straightened her jeans, and then knocked heavily on the door, ignoring the brass knocker. Within seconds the door swung open easily, and Sara was faced with her sister-in-law. With long waist length black hair, dark green eyes, and an incredibly slim frame, Vanessa made an impression even before she opened her mouth and reveled her Australian accent that clashed entirely with her looks. It took her a second to register that it was Sara standing before her and after the initially shock wore off, a bright smile spread across her face.

"Sara, what a lovely surprise."

Even after all these years, Sara still felt vaguely uneasy around Vanessa, not being able to read her, whether she was being sincere when she said things or not.

"Hi Vanessa. How are you?"

Before Vanessa could answer a golden blaze zipped past Sara's legs and stopped at her truck barking wildly.

"As Max will tell you, I brought Samantha home. You really need to sort this out."

Vanessa said nothing, and moved past Sara to stand beside Max, opening the door and giving Samantha and Malcolm a shake. Samantha looked a little unsure of what to say but was saved the trouble when Max pushed past Vanessa, using his bulk to get closer to Samantha, he jumped onto the young girls lap, licking her face and then moving onto Malcolm's, his golden body wriggling in delight.

"Hey Maxie baby. Have you been a good boy?"

Vanessa stood with her hands on her hips waiting for Samantha to acknowledge her. Malcolm made the first move.

"I'm going to go and see my Mom. Samantha, give me a call when it's ok to come back and discuss the baby. Love you."

Malcolm leant over and gave Samantha a peck on the cheek, and with a parting scratch behind the ears for Max, he left the truck, giving Sara a small wave before turning the corner.

"Come on Samantha, you need to come inside."

Vanessa turned back to the house and disappeared back through the imposing door. Sara waited for her niece, who sat for a few more seconds her face buried in the thick fur the covered Max's large body, murmuring something in his ear; she then followed Sara into the house. The cold atmosphere of the house that was so familiar to them both, swallowed them whole. Even with the pictures that were dotted here and there of family Christmases and birthdays didn't break through the heavy chill. Samantha's mother led them into the living room, where a large screen T.V took over half a wall and a huge stereo system took over the other half. Samantha sat heavily into the soft sofa, Sara following suit.

"Drink? Lemonade, Soda?"

"Soda would be good thanks, Vanessa."

Samantha ignored her mother's question, choosing instead to invite Max onto the sofa and onto her lap. Vanessa left and quickly returned a glass of soda, ice clanking gently against the glass walls.

"So, how have you been?"

Vanessa sat stiffly in a seat across from Sara, occasionally shooting glances out the window where she could see the driveway clearly.

"Oh, did you call Brian? Bet he was mad."

Vanessa blushed slightly, and withered slightly under Sara's confident gaze. It seemed like hours of silence before they all heard Brian pulled up in the driveway, cursing all of the way. He came into the room, face red and fist's clenched.

"Sara, I told you too keep your nose out didn't I?"

Sara took a sip of her coke then put the glass down, standing to confront her brother. They were fairly even in the height area, but Brian out weighed her to the extreme from all the years of owning his own building company. His brown eyes were flicking with anger, and his brown hair was mussed from his old age habit of running his fingers through it when he was stressed or angry. Sara kept her cool and stood in calm confidence, which she knew made her brother more agitated.

"Calm down Brian. You cannot tell me that my being here came as a surprise; you should know how stubborn we can both be. So sit and talk to your daughter, ok?"

Brian sat heavily on the chair next to his wife, the angry leaving him as quickly as it came. He looked at Samantha, and Sara saw the sadness creep into his eyes.

"How are you, Samantha?"

Samantha raised her face properly from behind Max's neck, locking her gaze with her father's.

"I've been better. You?"

Brian shrugged.

"I have too. So when do I get to met this boy?"

Samantha sat a little straighter.

"His name is Malcolm Stone. And not yet, we need to talk. We are way over due."

Brian nodded his head low.

"Fair enough."

He turned to Sara.

"And what about you? Were you planning to stay?"

Sara nodded, watching her brother's reaction carefully.

"Yep if that's ok. I'm part of this family and I want to be here for Samantha if she need's me."

Brian nodded mutely, and a heavy silence fell over the living room, broken only by Max and his panting. Brian looked at Sara again, his head clicking up as if he had just been physically hit with an idea.

"What about work?"

Sara shrugged sipping her coke lazily.

"I took a lot of time off. So you're stuck with me I'm afraid."

Brian nodded again and yet another silence ensued, and Sara felt a need to jump and shout just to make some noise, and to see if her brother was really there or if it was just some sort of cruel joke. Brian spoke again in voice filled with deadly calm. It was a tone that Sara had heard before when suspect's confessed to a crime, laying out the event as if it were some sort of morbid fairy tale.

"I have been working all morning, let's have lunch."

* * *

Just after lunch, which was by far the most uncomfortable meal Sara had ever had, there was a knock on the door. To Sara's surprise it was Malcolm and his mother. Debra Stone was dressed in a smart suit set, the royal blue making her eyes darker and her hair blonder. Her face was open and friendly and Sara liked her immediately. After the introductions had been made they all moved into the living room, where Sara excused herself. It was a beautiful day and this was the excuse she needed to drive down to the beach and try and get a tan. So she packed a small bag with a book and some sunscreen, and then changed into her bikini, wrapping the sarong she had brought around her waist, tying it off at her hip. At the last minute she decided to take Max with her for a walk, and so with him in the back of the truck, she drove to the local beach that was 10 minutes away. It was summer so Sara wasn't surprised to see how busy the beach was, and she happily let herself be swallowed up by the crowds and let Max off of his lead to go and chase waves, while she sat and watched as she put on some sunscreen.

"So are you local or a visitor?"

A tall man who looked as if he was in his mid twenties stood over Sara, his lean and very nice body still dripping slightly from a dip he must have just taken.

"Visitor. You?"

The man flashed Sara a wide smile, one that was all white pearly teeth, and he sat beside her, making her very aware of the fact that she was half naked.

"Local. I live just up the way. I'm Justin."

He offered Sara a hand, his gaze friendly. Sara gave herself a mental shake. She was on holiday so why shouldn't she have a bit of fun? She smiled broadly at the young man and slipped her hand into his larger one.

"Sara. So are you here with friends or alone?"

Justin threw a thumb over his shoulder indicating a gaggle of very young girls giggling and pointing to boys as they moved past

"I'm home from Harvard for the summer and so Mom dispatched me to look after my little sister and her friends. It's harder then I thought it would be to block out their high-pitched squeals. What about you? Here alone?"

Sara pointed to Max, who was making his way back over to her.

"I'm here with my nieces dog, Max, who, by the way, I really should take for a walk. Want to join me?"

Justin smiled and nodded.

"I'll just tell my sister."

Justin moved away and after a brief conversation with a girl who looked a lot like him, he moved back to Sara's side. He held out a hand, which Sara took as she pulled herself out of the deep sand.

"Let's go."

They walked side by side in compatible silence for a little while as they moved further and further away from the crowd's of people. Sara spoke first.

"So what are you studying at Harvard?"

Justin ran a hand through his rich dark brown hair, extracting more excess water, which dripped down his back.

"Psychology and Journalism. I have just one more year before I finish five years of hard work. What about you, what do you do?"

Sara allowed herself a small smile. This guy was a good six years younger then her and Sara felt as if she should be using a walking stick

"I finished University quite a while ago. I am a scientist. I work in Las Vegas, with the Crime Scene office there."

Justin's eyes widened.

"Wow! You guys are like the top in the country. I'm impressed. So what brings you to this side of America?"

Sara tightened her sarong.

"Family stuff mostly. I'm here for a few weeks, hoping to get a nice tan."

Justin brushed his hand gently across her shoulder, sending a vague shiver down her back.

"You're not that pale. Whenever people say scientist I always picture a white ghost with glasses, not someone like you."

Sara stopped walking and fixed him with a challenging glance.

"Someone like me?"

Justin smiled shyly avoiding her gaze and looking instead at Max who was running ahead.

"You know, pretty. I should have become a scientist."

Sara bumped the Justin with her shoulder, laughing.

"I'm flattered. Thank you. So are you just going to spend the day at the beach or did you have other plans?"

Justin shrugged.

"I don't have any other plans for this afternoon. My Mom wanted my sister back at two to get ready for a dinner function she's meant to be going to. You?"

"No plans. Just to back to the house and unpack, that's pretty much it."

A silence followed and just when Sara was about to speak, Justin stopped walking and turned to her.

"So let me take you to lunch. I know this sweet little Café that serves the best coffee in the whole of California. What do you say?"

Sara nodded. She was sick of not having fun and after the last few months she wanted to have some, wanted to let loose and enjoy some company that had nothing to do with work.

"Sure, that would be great. What time should I meet you there?"

Justin had a quick glance at the watch that sat on his muscular brown wrist.

"Well it's almost 2 now so how about 2:30? I need to go home and get changed. Its a little Café called Bean and Leaf. Instead of turning right like you did to get to the beach you turn left. Here, I'll give you my cell phone number that way if you get lost you can call me."

Sara pulled out her cell phone and typed in Justin's number, not allowing herself to think of work or of Grissom and the kiss. She and Justin exchanged a quick hug and then with a wave and a smile he headed back to the crowded area of the beach. Sara clipped the leash back onto Max, heading back to her truck, hoping that her family had gotten at least something sorted.

* * *

The house was surprisingly quiet and her hopes for any kind of reconsolidation fell when she saw Vanessa sitting in the living room, quietly sobbing.

"What's wrong?"

Vanessa lifted her head, wiped off her tears with quick hand strokes, sniffing slightly.

"Sara, I wasn't expecting you back yet. How was the beach?"

Sara stood in the doorway and leant against the frame, staring hard at Vanessa.

"What's happened?"

Vanessa shrugged, forcing a smile on her face.

"Nothing. I'm just being silly. Everything is fine."

Sara turned her back to Vanessa and started to head upstairs to Samantha's room. She found the young women curled up in her boyfriends arms crying her heart out. Sara immediately moved to an empty spot on the bed, addressing Malcolm.

"What happened Malcolm? I thought everything was going to be ok"

Malcolm continued to rub Samantha's back as her turned his sad eyes on Sara.

"Sam's parents were under the assumption that we were going to give the baby up for adoption. They said that because Samantha and I were young and stupid we do not have a clue as to how raise a child. And then we told them that we were actually planning to get married and keep the baby, which we can do if we work hard. They ignored any of my own mother's comment's of how responsible I have been since my father's death, then just to top it off Brian said that if Samantha kept the baby then she could stay here. But if she chose to marry me and make a family, then they want nothing to do with either the baby or Samantha. I want to marry her, do the right thing for the baby and Samantha, but in order to do the right thing Samantha has to decide between her family and me. Why would her own father do that?"

Sara shrugged, finding no answer that seemed full enough for the boy. Samantha was now lying silently, still curled against her boyfriend, his hand clasped tightly in hers. She stared at Sara with a glazed expression, her face slack, void of any emotion only the fresh tear tracks on her cheeks gave her away.

"I will not give up the baby. Malcolm and I are going to get married."

The strength and determination in her voice scared Sara a little. She excused herself and went to her room to make a call to Justin. After a quick conversation they negotiated a dinner tomorrow night at the local restaurant, followed by dancing. Sara went back into Samantha's room to find the girl sitting up straighter, her chin jutting out as she talked softly to Malcolm.

"We could stay with Aunt Sara until we find a place to live. I have the money in my account and you have your job at the art shop. I could sell these painting's here and then I could make some shirts to sell on E-bay. We can do it Malcolm. It will be hard but we can do it."

Malcolm nodded, pulling the girl into his arms, his face sad.

"Samantha's right. You can stay with me if you want to. I have the room and I could properly use the company. But there will be rules and conditions. What about school?"

Samantha shook her head.

"I will not be allowed to continue school while I'm pregnant. They have a policy and I can only stay up until I start showing properly. And Malcolm has just this year to complete then he graduates. I could finish the rest of school via correspondence, which would be easier with a baby."

Sara nodded, seeing the logic in the girl's plan.

"I want you to stay here longer though. We need to try and get through to your parent's and give them a chance. They just got the shock of their lives."

Samantha narrowed her eyes at Sara.

"Why are you defending them? They want to kick me out!"

Sara held up her hand's, shaking her head.

"I'm not condoning what they are doing. I just want you to realize that you need to see it from their point of view is all. I am on your side; I just see their side too."

Samantha nodded and silence lapsed between them, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Who did you call earlier?"

"No one important."

Samantha looked at Sara suspiciously but let her get away with the lie. Sara left the couple alone again to get changed out of her bathing suit. The weather was getting cooler and she had goose pimples all up and down her arms and legs, and so after a hot shower she slipped into a pair of jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt and headed back downstairs. She paused halfway down as Brian and Vanessa's voices reached her. Brian's was getting louder and louder.

"I will not have Samantha getting married. She is a child."

Vanessa's voice sounded small compared to her husband's but it was just as strong.

"We were children when we got married Brian. And we did it because I was going to have a baby. At least Samantha has a plan for herself. They are in love."

Sara sat herself down on the stairs, knowing that she should not be listening, but all the same needing to.

"What and we weren't? It didn't do us any good did it? We fight and we raise a slut for a daughter."

Sara heard a slapping sound, and judging by the silence that followed, Vanessa had hit Brian.

"Don't call her that. She is our daughter and that baby is our grandchild. If we kick her out, she will leave for good and we will never see her again. Do you want that?"

"She'll just go to Sara's until she sees how hard it is with a baby and then she'll come running back to us."

"I do not want her living with your sister. Sara is a workaholic with a drinking problem! I do not want my daughter or my grandchild to be around that kind of influence. And her job is so dangerous too, with the killings and the rapes."

Sara stood and headed back to her room. She didn't want to hear anymore. She had known that Vanessa had always had a problem with her, even when she was younger, but it was stepping over the line when she presumed that Sara would put Samantha and the baby into any kind of danger. Sara lay down on the bed and let her thoughts drift and wonder until sleep over came her.


End file.
